Thursday, September 1, 2011

Shapes of Things to Come (If We're Lucky)

The Yardbirds—first stop for three of Rock and Roll’s greatest guitar heroes—mixed blues and psychedelia into a unique soup that produced such classics as “For Your Love” and “Heart Full of Soul.” While noted for launching the careers of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, it was Paul Samwell-Smith (bass), Keith Relf (singer/harmonica), Chris Dreja (rhythm guitar) and Jim McCarty (drums) who maintained the core. I plan to see Chris and Jim perform, along with new Yardbirds band members, on Wed., September 7, at BB Kings' in NY City (the Good Rats are opening). You can also catch the Yardbirds in a lot of other places through October.

Yesterday I caught up with Jim McCarty—far and away one of the most influential drummers of his time.

Meth: Is drumming work? It looks like work.

McCarty: (Laughs) I never really thought of it as work, Cliff. It’s not really hard work is it? The hard work is traveling around (laughs again). But I did once see an article about drummers having to be really fit. There was an experiment in England and they said Blondie’s drummer was as fit as a footballer. So I guess it’s work but being in a rhythm sorts of works itself.Meth: You’ve been a Yardbird for what, 45 years? Did you think that was possible?

McCarty: I didn’t actually. At one point I worked for a stock broker in London and I was playing drums at night and on weekends. After a few weeks it was very tiring and I didn’t think it would last. I went to my boss and said, “I need to take a break. Can you keep the job open for me when the band folds up?” But it lasted a bit longer… I was going to become an actuary at the time. I was obviously destined not to do that but I always had a mathematical brain. It also helped with the songwriting, I think.

Meth: There was a bit of a break in there. How did you reform the group?

McCarty: We were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992 but we didn’t get it together again until ‘95. I was playing in a blues band and we sort of built a place up. Jeff [Beck] and Paul [Samwell-Smith] would come and see the band but they didn’t sit in. Then Chris and I were approached by an agent and there was interest in putting the band back together. Jeff hasn’t played with us, nor has Jimmy [Page], but they’ve shown up at shows and played air guitar.

Meth: Air guitar. That's not work.

McCarty: Yes. [Laughs]

Meth: While you played musical guitar heroes, the core of the Yardbirds seemed to stay close knit. Who were you closest with?

McCarty: I suppose Keith and I were very close back then. Me and Keith and Chris were the steady members. But there was tension because it was very hectic having to work the whole time. We weren’t making any money. Even when we were signed, the LPs weren’t selling well and royalties were poor—all the money was on the road so were relentlessly working and that created tension. It was clear that Eric and Jeff were destined to be their own bosses—they were people who found it difficult to be in a band.

Meth: But there was some sense of fraternity wasn’t there? You were too young not to have that idealized dynamic.

McCarty: Well, we would go to our manager and have meetings. I remember that Eric was very unhappy about the way the band was going and didn’t like the idea of doing “For Your Love,” which the rest of us wanted to do. He thought that was selling out. We loved it but he only wanted to do blues. We tried to do bluesly singles like “Good Morning Little School Girl” but they weren’t commercial enough to be big hits and to get anywhere you had to have a single. Now the music industry has gone full circle. The LP market is dead again and it’s all about being on the road, but back then it was all about singles.

Meth: You contributed to the writing on some of those singles.

McCarty: Yes, most of the songs were team efforts. “Shapes of Things to Come” came from Keith and Paul and myself.

Meth: Well, while we're on shapes of things to come, are you disappointed with where music has gone? The death of rock culture—and for that matter, the virtual death of everything else?McCarty: I tend to think positively about where we’re going and I try to reflect that in my songwriting. There’s a change coming but the change is for the good.

Meth: What do you see in evidence of that?

McCarty: I guess ecological things, especially in Europe. People trying to get by without using un-renewable fuels… I sort of do see a better world coming, a growing awareness and growing consciousness of other people. I think it will be alright.

Meth Addict

Attempting to post comments to this blog? Note that I don't accept anonymous comments. No guts, no glory.

Eye of the Beholder

Meth is a dangerous writer. He doesn’t seem to care if you like him.- Neal Adams

Meth’s writing is fresh and absorbing—clever and replete with surprises.- Stan Lee

Anyone who can give Barry Windsor-Smith a pissy fit is okay in my book.- Joe Staton

The only thing about Cliff’s writing that makes me crazy is the demented titles he puts on them. For a guy who writes as well as he does, and who thinks as deeply as he does, I can’t figure it out! - Harlan Ellison

Clifford Meth is one of dark fiction's best-kept secrets.- Barnes and Noble

Meth is one of the more intriguing writers of short stories to arrive in recent years. A damned fine writer. He does not write the easy stories.- Tony Isabella / The Comic Buyer’s Guide

Meth’s imagination, integrity and insight are touched by a dark, often perverse humor. It’s always exciting to discover new writers on their way up—and Meth’s course is worth charting. - Jim Steranko

I don’t know how much money the Cockrums got, but having a friend like Clifford Meth is worth more than a million dollars. - John Romita

Cliff’s writing has attitude. While his stories are frequently angry or outrageous, they’re all honest insights into the human psyche. - Dave Cockrum (co-creator of The X-Men)

Meth is a unique and exciting voice--funny, twisted, visionary. His insights into character and culture are often startling and his stories, always entertaining. I am a huge fan. - Richard Saperstein, Pres. The Weinstein Company

Clifford Meth sharpens the mundane details of everyday life to a razor's edge. I know of no other experience so simultaneously depressing...and uplifting. - Steve Brown, Chairman IDT Entertainment

You write character dialogue like O'Hara & string words together so effortlessly, kiddo. Kudos to you! Love good writing--the stuff so rare in comics & animation, my two vexing venues...I'm ossified, I'm sure, by actually reading top story work. - Alex Toth

Although they're called dark fiction, there's a "real" quality to Clifford Meth's stories that lifts them up and out of his books. And each successive story remains unique enough to make me start another, wondering what he'll come up with next. - Steve Forbert

Clifford Meth knows things. Dark, dank, nasty things... He doesn't scrape away the barnacles covering the hull of human interaction so much as he lifts up the barnacles, describes what's under them, and then puts the barnacles back and walks away with his hands in his pockets, whistling in the dark. - Peter David

Clifford Meth has done more to make the comic book industry better for its creators than has the collective career of many good people working within it. Those who speak much and do little struggle to fathom how some inspire granduer with few words. To them, Clifford Meth is of the unfathomable. - Michael Netzer

[Meth's] work is about the dark side of life, as if he were sculpting beautifully realistic statues while working exclusively in blood and excrement. And then setting them on fire...I'm a huge fan. I read him mouth open and giggling, stunned, amused and aroused. - Bill Messner-Loebs

I read Clifford Meth because the guy has a unique niche. He doesn't write fiction--he writes punk fiction! - Andy Shernoff (The Dictators)

Meth's writing is dark, relentless and always in your face. It doesn’t make for easy reading, but it is highly emotional and makes you pay attention, which is the best thing a writer can do... He writes from a place others won’t walk. - Marv Wolfman (creator of Blade)

Every Clifford Meth story is a tale of two balls. - Peppi Marchello (The Good Rats)

If you have missed the true, revealing richness of [Meth's] implications, then consider this an urgent reminder--a rap on the knuckles--to read it again. - Robert Bloch (author of Psycho)

Cliff writes very well about very intimate subjects.- Steve Gerber (creator of Howard the Duck)

It's easy to be your friend when there ain't no shit coming down. It's when the nails are being driven into your wrists that you find out whether somebody is a real friend and a stand-up person. And that's Cliff. - Harlan Ellison

Cliff, on behalf of the creative community, let me be the zillionth to thank you for the great care and Ellisonian-level protectiveness you've shown to the giants. - Mark Waid

Saying good things about Clifford Meth is like giving endorsements to Zorro. - Barney Dannelke

Comics for Sale

In addition to representing Dave Cockrum's personal collection for his Estate, I am selling my Silver Age collection. Click here for details.